David Moyes Photo: VCG

David Moyes returned to Old Trafford last weekend for the English Premier League match between his West Ham United side and former club Manchester United.

It is now eight years since the Scotsman was anointed the "chosen one" by his countryman and counterpart Alex Ferguson, who called on Moyes to succeed him in the dugout at the English champions.

Moyes would last little more than eight months, sacked once it became mathematically impossible for United to qualify for the UEFA Champions League - the minimum expectation for the team that secured a record 20th top-flight title in Ferguson's final season.

The club, now managed by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, have struggled to get close to a 21st since, though there were signs of life in a title challenge earlier this season. The title appears headed to Manchester City this season though Solskjaer and United can console themselves in the knowledge that they are moving in the right direction.

Three points from the win over West Ham has helped consolidate the Red Devils in second place and a return to the UEFA Champions League, while they began the week still in the hunt for the UEFA Europa League and FA Cup silverware this season.

Moyes has also got his own reputation back in the right direction after his misstep at Old Trafford and West Ham are chasing a European place of their own.

Is he entitled to think that he could have done better if he had been given the time that Solskjaer has been afforded? Would he have done better with more support in the transfer market on his arrival?

Moyes arrived with talk of an "unlimited budget" for transfers, while CEO Ed Woodward had admitted that "there was no cut-off price" in his attempt to sign "stellar" players for the Scot.

It is well known that the club missed out on some of the biggest names in the game that summer.

"Toni Kroos would certainly be the one who if I'd got to Manchester United he'd have been winning," Moyes told Richard Keys and Andy Gray in their beIN Sports YouTube series a year ago.

"And at that time as well we were very much after Gareth Bale and Cesc Fabregas."

Better known is the story of another player that got away - Thiago Alcantara - a player that was Ferguson's "welcome gift" to his successor.

Spanish journalist Guillem Balague recalled the bizarre turn of events of a transfer that had already been agreed bar Moyes signing off on it.

"He asked his agent [Pep's brother] to get him a transfer from Barcelona to #MUFC," he wrote on Twitter. "It was a cheap deal: Bayern eventually paid €21.7m as FCB didn't play him more than 60% of the minutes the previous season. If they had, he would have cost €90m [FCB forgot about that clause?]

"David Moyes decided he was not a player for him at United. Thiago could not believe it and being in Munich to sing the contract to join Pep's team, asked his agent to ring MUFC again. Same answer, not a player needed. Then he decided to join Bayern."

He would go on to win 16 trophies in Germany, including last season's UEFA Champions League.

Thiago finally arrived in the Premier League at the start of this season, signing for champions Liverpool.

The transfer U-turn of 2013 was brought up when he signed for Jurgen Klopp's side.

"Thiago should be a great signing for Liverpool - and another 'what if' moment for Man Utd. Thiago was Alex Ferguson's leaving 'present' for David Moyes in 2013. Years of scouting, everything agreed," The Athletic's Daniel Taylor wrote on Twitter. "Then Moyes called it off because he didn't feel he knew enough about the player."

Even last summer Thiago was linked with United and former midfielder Paul Scholes would have loved to see him at the club.

"I thought he would have been more suited to a Manchester United team," the former United and England midfielder said in August. "In a two in midfield with a holding player, really good strong defensive player, where he can sit and control games.

"Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool, I don't see them controlling games. I see them going for the throat in teams. He hasn't got that energy to really overpower midfield players."

Midfield remains a problem area for United, who struggle to find the balance between star man Bruno Fernandes and the one-time most expensive player in the world Paul Pogba, alongside the more workaday talents of Scott McTominay, Fred and Nemanja Matic - and that's before last summer's signing Donny van de Beek.

Thiago would no doubt still be a part of a ­United team had he signed that summer. So would the man that Moyes wanted instead of him.

Moyes turned to Fabregas, who was unsettled at Barcelona, but ended up with neither of the Camp Nou side's midfielders.

"The other one I came really close to getting was Cesc Fabregas, who we thought we would get [from Barcelona] right up until the last minute," Moyes said. "The Cesc one was disappointing, it was very close."

Fabregas, now 33, returned to the Premier League with Chelsea and was a key part of them winning the title.

Moyes missed out on a return for Cristiano Ronaldo, Kroos, Fabio Coentrao and Mesut Ozil, who Real Madrid were keen to move on. In the end his biggest target went to Real Madrid instead of United.

"When I first went in to United my real target was Gareth Bale," Moyes told The Guardian in 2016, of a player who returned to Spurs this season.

"I felt all along that Gareth Bale was a Manchester United player and I fought to get him [from Tottenham] right up until the last minute. We actually offered him a bigger deal than Real Madrid but Gareth had his mind made up on going to Madrid. He was, though, in my mind, the player I really wanted."

In the end all Moyes got was Marouane Fellaini and football fans got a number of what ifs.